The naming rights went to Houston-based Gulf Interstate Engineering, which signed a seven-year lease for floors three through six at 16010 Barkers Point Lane, Eric Anderson, senior vice president at Houston-based Transwestern Commercial Services, tells GlobeSt.com. The Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp. and Chicago-headquartered Transwestern Investment Co. own the building in a 50-50 arrangement.

Anderson says Gulf Interstate, now in the Galleria submarket, looked at several buildings before deciding on the Barkers Point Lane property. He says the West Houston submarket held seven options for that amount of contiguous space, four of which were sublease opportunities.

At the 2002 close, two tenants vacated about 75,000 sf in the Transwestern-Cigna property. The exits resulted in the owners spending $200,000 to $250,000 to renovate the lobby, entranceways and elevators and take the building's label to class A. The renovation work wraps up May 1, the effective move-in date for Gulf Interstate.

"The cumulative deal brought the occupancy at the building to 92% leased," Anderson said in a press release. "Gulf Interstate indicated that the quality of the project and current renovations, coupled with the Energy Corridor locations, were the key factors in their choice."

Anderson and Greg Tilton, also Transwestern's Houston office, represented the building owner in the lease negotiations. Craig Beyer and Lance McCarthey, both with Trione & Gordon ONCOR International in Houston, bargained the terms for the tenant.